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Head Coach Men and Women's Golf and Assistant Athletic Director
Jim Owen
Coach Owen is in his 26th year at Oglethorpe University. This
season marks Owen's fifthteenth year coaching the men's golf team and
fourth year with the women's program. Owen, a
1981 graduate of Berry College, arrived on campus in the summer of
1981 as a graduate assistant basketball coach and intramural
director. At Berry, Owen was a three year starting guard and was
named basketball team MVP his senior season. He was named Most
Outstanding Senior Athlete at Berry College later that spring. He
served as an assistant basketball coach from 1981-1997 before
assuming the head coaching responsibilities from 1998-2003. During
his tenure, Oglethorpe joined the NCAA
Division III and the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC)
and expanded the sports programs offered at Oglethorpe from six to
fourteen.
In 1993, Owen took two individual male golfers to the SCAC Conference golf championship in Jackson, Mississippi. Those
two golfers began the program that has developed in the last twelve
years into one of the most respected in the nation. Since 1997, a
span of eleven consecutive years, the Stormy Petrel men have been
ranked in the top 25 in the nation. They have been ranked in the top
10 for eight consecutive years and inside the top 5 for each of the
last six years. Owen has coached 28 All-SCAC
performers including three in 2007 when Oglethorpe's Taylor Urbanski, Danny Swanick and Ryan Peters were honored at the SCAC Championship in Georgetown, Texas.
 Owen has coached six
men's SCAC Championship teams in the past nine years including four in a row
from 2000-2003. He was named SCAC Coach of the Year
in seven of the last eight seasons. Owen was honored as the South Region Coach of the Year in
2002 and was a finalist for 2002 NCAA National Coach of the Year.
He has coached six SCAC Player's of the Year including Tolliver
Williams (1996, 1998), Robert Fink (2001), Chris Summers (2002), and
Trent Erb in 2003 and 2004.
On the regional and national level, Owen had had nine of his fourteen
teams represented at the NCAA National Tournament. The Stormy
Petrels have had ten Academic All-Americans and twelve NCAA
Division III All-Americans
since the 1998 season. In 2003 Joe Green was honored with
Oglethorpe's first National Freshman of the
Year Award. Last year, junior Taylor Urbanski completed a rare feat by being named to both the academic and athletic All-American teams. In 2007, Swanick and Urbanski were named
to the prestigious twelve member All-South Region team bringing the
total to twelve All-Region players honored
from Oglethorpe in his tenure. Owen has served two terms on the NCAA South Region
National Selection Committee (1999-2001 and 2003-2005).
Oglethorpe, in partnership with the Central Florida Sports
Commission, hosted the 2005 Men's NCAA Division III
National Tournament at the Mission Inn Golf and Tennis Resort near
Orlando, Florida. In 2006 and 2007 Oglethorpe was been awarded the
Women's NCAA Division III National Championships.
In the fall of 2003 Owen retired from his basketball
coaching duties and officially began the women's golf program. The
women's team has been an off again on again process since its
inception in 1998 with five different coaches in the last six
years. Owen has brought increasing continuity to the women's program
and consistency in recruiting. In 2006, the women broke through with a spectacular 2nd place finish at the SCAC Conference Championship and has since cracked the national top ten in the fall of 2007
The Stormy Petrels fielded teams that competed in the SCAC tournament in 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, and 2002 with their best
finishes being fifth place in 1998, 1999, and 2001. In 1999 and
again as a senior in 2001, Kristi Wright earned 2nd Team All-SCAC
for her play at the Spring Festival. Her rounds of 89-81=170
still stands as the Oglethorpe SCAC Conference scoring record.
In 2004 and again in 2005 the Stormy Petrel women finished fifth
in SCAC Conference Championship play. At the Renaissance PineIsle
Resort golf course hosted by Oglethorpe University in 2004 on
beautiful Lake Lanier Heather March earned second team SCAC honors.
In 2005 in Arkansas, freshman Julia Gates and junior Mallory Pusch both
earned second team SCAC honors.Last year, freshman Katie Dale earned first team honors while finishing second overall. Julia Gates earned her third consecutive All-SCAC honor.
The 2007-08 team looks to continue to climb toward a top ten ranking. Each of the last two seasons, the Stormy Petrel women have finished the season ranked in the top twenty-five.
Owen was inducted in May of 2001 into the Oglethorpe Athletic
Hall of Fame for his twenty years of dedicated service to the
University. Owen lives in Alpharetta, Georgia with his wife Anjie
and their children Jayce, 15, and Michaela, 10.
Assistant Coach David Potts (right) pictured with Owen
Assistant Coach Men's Golf
David Potts
David Potts begins his third year as the Assistant Coach for the Stormy Petrels.
Potts brings with him an extensive playing and teaching background
and has passed along his experience to the team in each of his first two seasons. This summer, Golf Digest magazine named Potts one of Georgia's Top Fifteen teachers in their 2007 state-by-state rankings.
Potts is a Georgia native. He attended Commerce High School where
he was a two-time All-State golfer. Potts received a golf
scholarship to the University of Georgia and was a four-year
letterman for the Bulldogs. He was the team MVP in 1995 with a 73.3
stroke average and was selected to the All-SEC team in 1996. While
at UGA Potts earned a degree in Consumer Economics and was selected
as the UGA Scholar Athlete for golf in 1996 and also na med an
All-SEC Scholar Athlete in '96.
After college Potts played the mini-tour golf circuit for four
years. Potts had some success with 2 career wins and numerous top
ten finishes. He regarded this time as a great learning experience
playing against current PGA Tour players such as Chad Campbell and
Slocum. After missing out at Q-School in 2000 Potts turned his
career path to working in the golf industry instead of competing for
a living. Potts worked for Mizuno in their golf division for 2 years
and then joined Peachtree Golf Center as a Teaching Professional. He
has been employed at Peachtree Golf Center since the fall of 2002
continues to help golfers of all ages and skill levels. Potts still
plays a few tournaments a year. In 2005 he finished T6 at the
Griffin Classic, T6 in the Georgia PGA North Chapter Championship
and was runner up in the Georgia PGA Assistant's Championship at
Sugarloaf CC.
Potts' two professional wins were on the TearDrop Tour in 1997 in
Winter Haven, FL and again in 1998 in Covington, GA. David played a
full Hooters Tour schedule in 1997-1998. In 1999 he moved to the
Developmental Players Tour. His best finish on the Developmental
Tour was a 2nd place showing at Oak Mountain. He lost in a playoff
to PGA tour winner Heath Slocum.
Coach Owen, commenting on the addition of David to the staff,
"David brings tremendous experience to our program from the
technical side. He understands the golf swing and more importantly
his extensive competitive experience at the college level and beyond
proves him to be an invaluable addition. I know he enjoys the
teaching aspect of his career since he left the tour, but was
missing the competition that college tournaments, amateur events and
professional tournaments gave him. Working closely with us this
year, you could see his competitive side begin to resurface."
Potts now lives in Tucker along with his wife Tara and his
5-year-old son Jake.
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